Gloves Make Smartphone Use a Cinch

Typically, the arrival of winter means chilly fingers for smartphone-wielding outdoors enthusiasts, who find themselves having to take off their gloves to make calls, pull up maps or use just about any app.

But, as with most outdoor predicaments, the outdoor industry has come up with a witty, stylish solution that allows adventurers to carry on despite what the elements (or technology) may throw at them.

This season, the Swany Performance Gloves company introduced touchscreen-compatible gloves, with fingertip pads that allow wearers to use digital devices without removing their gloves.

The lightweight Techno glove is made of soft, comfortable material with a stretch fleece cuff. Leather coverage on the palm, in addition to gel grips on the fingers, makes the glove comfortable and functional. The gel makes it easy to grip the handlebars of your bike or grab gear from a pack.

The fingertip pads on both index fingers and thumbs do a great job of giving you access to your mobile device without compromising warmth or comfort. Our gear tester raved about the index finger functionality, but would have liked an expanded thumb pad zone to accommodate side-of-thumb swiping that many smartphone owners use to navigate from one screen to the next. The fingertip pads work best when the gloves fit securely, so be sure to use Swany’s size guide and downloadable sizing chart to ensure a snug fit.

The Techno glove with i_INDEX technology is available for $25 in men’s and women’s sizes on swanyamerica.com.